MARCIE STOOD NEXT TO GLENN AS THE MEN LOWERED THE BODIES INTO THE GRAVES THAT WERE DUG ON TOP OF THE HILL.
"What if there's nothing left?" She asked quietly as they watched Andrea put her sister into the ground, "What if we go to the CDC and it's a dead end, then we go to Benning and it's gone, too? Where do we go then?"
Glenn glanced over at her, "Then we'll look for a new home."
"What if there's no where that's safe anymore?"
"We'll make someplace safe." He told her, "For all of us."
After the burial, Marcie made her way back to camp, the others following. She didn't know what to do, she didn't think anyone knew what to do. They were waiting for orders from Shane or Rick.
She began to go through the tents of the deceased. It felt dirty, but it was the only way she knew how to be useful.
Marcie had just finished with the second tent when she spotted Rick and Shane going into the woods, shotguns in hand.
She placed a hand on the handle of her hunting knife before following.
Marcie found Shane first. His gun was raised, he was aiming at something. She took a few steps to the side to see what he was aiming at.
In the distance, she spotted Rick.
There was no way he was trying to aim for Rick. Why would he want to shoot him, his best friend? Just because Rick had another opinion on what to do next?
There was a flash of white out of the corner of her eye and she spotted Dale walking over, his eyes scanning over Shane, trying to figure out his next more also.
Marcie stepped forward and cleared her throat, causing Shane to lower his gun and turn towards her,
"Marcie... what are you doing out here?" The officer asked,
"You guys have been out here for a while. Just checking in." She gave him a small smile that didn't reach her eyes,
He nodded, "Right." Shane turned back towards Rick, "Come on, man, let's go." Shane glanced towards her and Dale, "Nothing out here."
Rick gave her a nod as he followed Shane towards camp. If only he knew moments before his best friend held a gun to his turned back,
"You saw what I saw... right?" Marcie asked Dale,
"I sure did." He looked over at her, "Keep an eye out for him."
Vivian was with the group around the camp fire, Liam sitting in her lap against her chest, nibbling on a granola bar.
Shane and Rick came over, setting their guns down, with Marcie and Dale not far behind,
"I've been, uh... I've been thinking about Rick's plan. Now look, there are no... There are no guarantees either way. I'll be the first one to admit that." He looked around at everyone before making eye contact with Rick, "I've known this man a long time. I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning. Okay?"
Vivian ran her fingers through her hair. On the road with a two year old? But Shane had a point, they needed to stay together.
She needed to do that. For Liam. And Jillian.
"Hey." Glenn sat next to her, "Are you alright?"
She smiled over at him, "If one more person asks me that, I might burst into tears or shoot them in the face."
"Sorry." He tickled Liam slightly and the toddler giggled, "You're coming to the CDC with us, right?"
Vivian nodded, "Safety in numbers."
Glenn gave her a sad smile, "You're not in this alone. We'll all protect Liam with you."
"Thank you for saying that." She laid her head against his shoulder, "I don't know what'd I do if I was alone."
"You're strong." Glenn sighed, "Jillian knows you'll try your best."
"What if my best isn't good enough?"
"Then we're all screwed."
Vivian spent the night packing up her and Liam's things. For her it was a few shirts and a pair of jeans, but for Liam, it was all his clothes that he still fit in along with diapers plus his baby photo album. Jillian would kill her if she left that behind.
The next morning, Marcie stood by a pile of photo albums that she collected from most of the tents of the dead campers. She grabbed a bunch of photos from each album before hiking up the hill.
She spotted Rick in his spot again, holding the radio to his mouth, "We're moving out, leaving the quarry. If you heard me yesterday, you may be coming here. If you are, we'll be gone by the time you arrive. I'm leaving a note and map behind for you taped to a red car so you can follow our trail. We're heading to the C.D.C. If there's anything left, it's got to be there, don't you think? Morgan... I hope you were right about that place. I need you to be."
Rick stood and turned to her, "No response."
Marcie sighed and glanced down at all the photos in her hand, "Not everyone was meant to survive this world."
He helped her go around, digging small holes and placing the photos in the dirt on top of everyone's graves. She wasn't sure if they matched each grave, but it was better than nothing.
They heard footsteps and turned to see Vivian walking up the hill with Liam and a photo in his fingers. "Hey." She said quietly, giving them a smile, "I, uh, just came up to say goodbye to Jillian."
The two nodded and stepped away as they watched the brunette walk over to a grave. She crouched down and dug a small hole and placed the photo in it, "I'll take care of him, Jill. Don't worry." Vivian whispered.
She reached for Liam's hand, "Say goodbye to your momma, buddy."
The little boy waved, "Bye, momma."
Vivian knew he didn't quite understand. He was up last night crying for Jillian. All she could say was that she was going to be gone for a while.
But he still cried.
Vivian moved to stand next to Rick and Marcie, "We didn't even know them." Rick commented,
"No... but if it was my parents or loved ones... this is how I would want it to be. I wouldn't want my parents to just be laying in the ground, with nothing to remember them by. I would want someone to take the time to give them a proper burial." she stated,
Rick squeezed her shoulder before the four of them went back down to camp.
"Everybody listen up." Shane called out, causing everyone to gather around. "Those of you with C.B.s, we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a C.B., can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?"
Morales stepped forward and everyone looked towards him, "We're, uh... we're not going."
Marcie raised her eyebrows in shock. She thought Morales would stick to the group. Especially with two young children.
"We have family in Birmingham. We want to be with our people." His wife explained,
"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back." Shane told them,
"We'll take the chance. I got to do what's best for my family." He reasoned,
Vivian tightened her grip on Liam. She couldn't imagine leaving the group now, not after all that's happened. Shane was right, Morales was the only fighter in that family. The kids were too young to defend themselves against geeks.
"You sure?" Rick asked them,
Morales shared a look with his wife, "We talked about it. We're sure."
Shane handed Morales a gun and half a box of ammo before everyone said their goodbyes to the family. Vivian was going to miss them. Morales had a real voice of reason in the group, he was a good guy who knew when to get aggressive.
She only hopes he can lead his family to safety.
Everyone continued to pack up, preparing to leave. Marcie grabbed her pack and her jacket, before looking around at the round up of cars they were using to go to Atlanta.
Vivian had just buckled Liam up in the car seat in Trevor's car before spotting the confused girl, "Hey..." Marcella looked over at her, "Need a ride?"
Marcie walked over and set her stuff in the back, "Thanks... the RV looks full and I'm not sure Daryl wants company."
"It's no problem. It'll be nice to have a car ride with an actual adult in the car." Vivian joked, glancing over at Liam, "He's not the most entertaining road trip partner."
The group got into their cars, the RV leading the way. Vivian followed behind the Cherokee while Daryl, Shane, and T-Dog were behind them.
Marcie bit her lip as she spotted the sign on the Mustang her and Glenn drove on before she joined the camp. She read Morgan's name and glanced away.
They came upon the main road and Morales waved at them before driving in the other direction. Vivian draped a hand out her window and gave them a peace sign before following the Winnebago.
"Alright." Vivian sighed, "Let's make this less depressing." She turned on the radio and Disney music played through the speakers,
Marcie grinned at her and Vivian glanced over, "What? Liam loves Disney, don't you, buddy?"
"Yeah!" The little boy cheered,
They were only an hour into their journey, and the three of them were singing along to the Lion King soundtrack when the RV came to a stop.
Marcie turned down the radio, "What's going on?"
Vivian turned the engine off, "Probably the RV. Dale's been having problems with it ever since the world turned to shit."
The two women got out of the car and Vivian went to unbuckle Liam from his seat. They approached the group and noticed the smoke coming from the RV's engine,
T-Dog and Shane were on look out for any walkers, Shane searching through binoculars.
"I told you we'd never get far on that hose." Dale sighed, "I said I needed the one from the cube van."
"Can you jury-rig it?" Rick asked the older man,
"That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape than hose. And I'm out of duct tape." Dale told him,
Shane lowered his binoculars, "I see something up ahead. A gas station if we're lucky."
Footsteps rushed out of the RV and they turned to see Jacqui, "Y'all, Jim... It's bad. I don't think he can take anymore."
Marcie felt bad. She had never seen someone slowly succumb to the virus, Jim was in so much pain. It wasn't right for them to drag him across the county, giving him hope, giving the group hope, only for it to fade.
"Hey, Rick, you want to hold down the fort?" Shane suggested, "I'll drive ahead, see what I can bring back."
'Yeah, I'll come along too and I'll back you up." T-Dog stated,
Rick nodded to his friend before heading towards the RV, "Y'all keep your eyes open now. We'll be right back." Shane told them before heading towards his Jeep with T-Dog in tow.
It wasn't long before Rick came back outside, a defeated look on his face. They knew what that meant.
Jim wasn't going any further on this trip.
Shane and T-Dog came back with more gas for the cars, unfortunately there was nothing for the radiator hose except more tape.
"It's what he says he wants." Rick sighed,
"And he's lucid?" Carol asked,
The officer nodded, "He seems to be. I would say yes."
"Back in the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood." Dale spoke up, "I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. And I think we have an answer."
"We just leave him here? We take off?" Shane asked, "Man, I'm not sure I could live with that."
"We wouldn't be human if we could." Vivian stated, "However, it's no one's call but Jim's. We can't force him to live. He's in pain. It wouldn't be humane."
The others nodded. Shane and Rick went inside the RV to grab Jim. As gently as they could, they carried him to a tree on a hill just off the highway,
Everyone gathered around, watching with sympathy. They were hoping that they were done loosing people.
If only they knew it was only the beginning.
Jim groaned as they set him down, "Hey, another damn tree." He chuckled lightly,
Shane kneeled beside the man, "Hey, Jim... I mean, you know it doesn't need to be this."
"No. It's good. The breeze feels nice." Jim reasoned,
"Okay. All right." He patted him gently on the leg before backing away,
Jacqui was next, "Just close your eyes, sweetie. Don't fight." She kissed his cheek as tears fell from her eyes,
Vivian squeezed the woman's hand in comfort as she walked past. Everyone who wanted to say their goodbyes did and the others gave him one last look before walking back towards the cars,
Marcie approached Jim with a sad smile, "Don't let it beat you." She crouched down and handed him a hand gun, "There's only one bullet. Don't waste it."
"Thank you." He whispered.
Marcie gave him one last smile before standing and walking back down the hill, where Daryl was standing, "A waste of a gun."
She glanced back towards Jim before looking up at Daryl, "Not in my opinion." She told him before walking away,